


Splash

by st_aurafina



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-08
Updated: 2011-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 14:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/150127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_aurafina/pseuds/st_aurafina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sally wasn't her real name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Splash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cinaed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinaed/gifts).



> Written for Cinaed, for fandom_stocking 2010. Thanks to Lilacsigil for the beta.

"Sally" wasn't her real name, but the word did catch a fall of syllables from her own that seemed to please the human ear. She didn't mind: it was the best that they could do with their limited sound-based means of interaction, and if it made them more comfortable with her, then it was a reasonable compromise.

Helen didn't feel the same way. She came one night to apologise. "They mean no disrespect," she said, crouching at the edge of Sally's pool. "I always forget how it is with new people: they find their own ways and routines." Her thoughts were solemn and filled with thoughts of loss: the bodies she had seen floating in the ocean, Sally's people. The crease between her eyes meant that she was worried. Human faces were so odd, and their markings so random, like scratch marks in the sand.

Humans acknowledged grief in sombre ways; Sally's people celebrated life and the living. Sally flared her gills wide, took a deep breath, and pushed her torso upwards out of the water. She reached out to brush her hand against Helen's hair, until the heaviness of her body in the thin air was too much. She slipped back into the water but hovered close, stroking the surface of the water invitingly.

Helen shook her head. "I really can't, not right now." Sally could hear the long lists of things to do rattle in Helen's mind like lobster shells: unpleasant, papery thoughts. She flipped her tail, sent an arc of water skimming across the surface, and laughed in delight as it broke against Helen's body.

Helen looked at her, bedraggled and dripping, like an obstinate albatross who will not learn to dive. "That was childish."

Sally didn't have to point out that ceaseless rearranging of lists was childish, too; Helen was already thinking that, and watching the ripples on the surface of the pool longingly. Helen looked to the door, shrugged out of her soaking wet clothes and slipped into the pool. Sally rolled with delight at the sudden sense of freedom in Helen's mind, and slid her body against that of her friend.

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to tag this "Pre-Splash" but couldn't quite bring myself to do it.


End file.
